A MAGICAL GROWN-UP TEA PARTY

Stacks of vintage mismatched tea cups on a wooden shelf. — Stacks of vintage mismatched tea cups wait for guests to pour their favorite brew.

Everyone loves a tea party

No matter how old we are, we cannot resist a tea party. And there are so many reasons to host a grown-up tea party — a bridal shower, a special birthday, Mother’s Day, Galentine’s Day, book club or just a fun time with friends.

If you’ve read my other party blog posts, you’ll have figured out that I have an abundant collection (uh, hoard?) of vintage dishes and linens. So a grown-up tea party was the perfect theme for my daughter’s bridal shower. In this post, I’ll share my ideas for decorating and styling a charming grown-up tea party.

Table with pastel dishes and tea party food. — A table set with scones, cookies, fruit, cheese, tea sandwiches and an assortment of jams and spreads.

DECORATING FOR A GROWN-UP TEA PARTY

Let's Par-tea banner above table with flowers and silver trays. — A vintage embroidered table cloth is laden with silver trays, fresh flowers and all you’ll need for the perfect cuppa. Balloon “par-tea” banner and floral paper fans set the mood.

FLOWERS AND BALLOONS

My daughters found the balloon “Let’s Partea” banner in a lovely rose gold on Amazon, and the gorgeous paper fans came from Rifle Paper. We filled vintage china and silver pitchers with fresh flowers from Trader Joe’s and used them on every table.

Wooden board filled with fruit and edible flowers. — This sweet wooden cheese board is actually a lazy Susan. It’s from Pioneer Woman.

Blue glass cake stand with cake on top. — I cherish this gorgeous blue glass cake stand from Mosser Glass Co.

MISMATCHED VINTAGE CHINA AND LINENS

In addition to vintage lace tablecloths and mismatched cloth napkins, I brought out stacks of vintage floral plates and tea cups, plus silver trays, vintage tea pots and vintage serving pieces. A few pieces were new, like this gorgeous blue glass cake stand from Mosser Glass Co. and the sweet wooden cheese boards from Pioneer Woman.

Fresh flowers in vintage pitchers and stacks of vintage china created a charming atmosphere.

Charming serving pieces

For almost every party I throw, I use these multi-tiered serving stands. Sometimes I’ve spray-painted them to match the party decor. The plates you use can match any theme. And I love to use vintage floral platters on the table.

Table filled with food. — Multi-tiered serving stands allow you to fill a small space with an abundance of items and add the visual appeal of staggered heights.

Don’t forget the photo backdrop

We created a photo background against one wall. A green boxwood backdrop was accented with colorful balloons. The coup de grace were the tiny butterflies we attached to the balloons and flowers.

Woman in peach dress works on pink balloons. — My daughter assembles the photo backdrop.

Pink balloons and colorful butterflies. — We attached tiny butterflies in vibrant hues to balloons around the backdrop.

Inexpensive flowers from Trader Joe's look elegant in vintage pitchers and adorned with tiny butterflies. — Inexpensive flowers from Trader Joe’s look elegant in vintage pitchers and adorned with tiny butterflies.

Tea display

For the tea itself, we prepared multiple pots of tea and labeled each one. Lemons, oranges, limes, honey, cream and different types of sugar were ready for a variety of styles and flavors. So beautiful for a grown-up tea party.

Vintage tea pots on silver tray — Vintage tea pots held a variety of different teas, each carefully labeled.

Grown-up food

A grown-up tea party requires grown-up food. We assembled a plate of fresh fruit, including figs and champagne grapes; a cheese cake made of stacked cheese and decorated with herbs and edible flowers; a variety of different sweet and savory scones; and vegetarian and meat-based tea sandwiches.